February 23, 1937 – December 7, 2020

Alvin Van Marel, 83, of Boyden, Iowa, passed away on Monday, December 7, 2020, at the Sanford Sheldon Medical Center.

There was a private family graveside service on Friday, December 11, at the Sheridan Township Cemetery in rural Boyden with Rev. Duane Tinklenberg officiating.

You can view a recording of the graveside service at www.oolman.com.

Alvin Lee was born on February 23, 1937, on a farm near Orange City, Iowa. He was the first of seven children born to Arie J. and Anna (Cleveringa) Van Marel. In 1941, his family moved to a farm near Steen, Minnesota, where he attended school through the ninth grade and made profession of his faith at the Steen Reformed Church. As a young man he helped his parents on the farm and worked for A.R. Woods and Hanson Silo Company in Luverne, Minnesota.

In 1960, he was drafted into the United States Army where he served in the engineering division, stationed in Hanau, Germany. Following his honorable discharge in 1962, he enrolled at the State School of Science in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where he was trained in diesel mechanics.

Alvin was married to Clarella Kooiman during a double ceremony with his brother, Arnold, and Clarella’s sister, Rosetta, at the First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota, on March 4, 1964, the wedding anniversary of both the Van Marel and Kooiman parents.

Alvin and Clarella lived for a short time in Pipestone, Minnesota, where Alvin worked as a diesel mechanic for the Gordon Arndt International Harvester dealership. They later moved to Edgerton, where he worked for Roelofs Implement, before he and Clarella moved to Boyden, where Alvin worked for Grooters Implement for more than 17 years. He later was employed at Town and Country Implement in Rock Valley, Iowa, Anderson Implement in Le Mars, Iowa, and finally at Northwest Implement in Orange City, where he remained for 13 years until his retirement.

Mr. Van Marel was a member of the First Reformed Church in Boyden, where he had served on the consistory as both an elder and a deacon, as well as the William-Monster American Legion Post in Boyden. He and Clarella enjoyed traveling and were active service volunteers in several areas of the country as well as helping at Cook Native American Ministries and Wycliffe Bible Translators, during their winters in Arizona. Alvin also found joy in helping his children, working with his son at his trigger business, JARD, and attending his grandchildren’s various activities.

Those left to cherish his memory include his wife of more than 56 years, Clarella, of Boyden; three children and their spouses, Dean and Amy Van Marel, of Sheldon, Iowa, Lynn and Lynn Cuperus, of Hull, Iowa, and Beth and Bill Scott, of Phoenix, Arizona; ten grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a brother, Arnold Van Marel; four sisters, Evelyn (Gerhart) Van Dam, Rose (Arvin) Bleyenberg, Luretta Van Otterloo, and Mary (Don) Palmquist; and a brother-in-law, Vernon Bolt. He is also survived by his wife’s siblings, Elberta De Jager, Joyce Klosterbuer, and Alvin (Alvina) Kooiman; along with many nieces, nephews, and friends.

In addition to his parents and his wife’s parents, William and Jessie Kooiman, he was preceded in death by a sister, Darlene Bolt; a sister-in-law, Rosetta Van Marel; three brothers-in-law, Berwyn Van Otterloo, John De Jager, and Merle Klosterbuer; a nephew, Kevin Van Dam; and two nieces, Shannon Kollis and Leann Bleyenberg.